Converting a 82 Chevy van into a trailer

Q. I'm thinking about building my own trailer. I have a 1982 one ton dualy with a utitility box. and I was contemplating chopping the frame rails behind the cab and making a trailer out of it. Has anyone done this before? Would the rear axle have to be replaced or moved? Do I need A second axle? In addition, what do I do about getting a title for it as a trailer? I am in Colorado and have the title for this van

 

It sounds possible depending if you you have good welding skills. You will need to frame it off and weld on a tounge. You will have to use some heftey angle iron. I am pretty sure you can leave the pumpkin assy in as well as all the leaf springs.
The only draw back to that setup is weight the rearend on a dually has qute a bit of weight.
Not sure on registation but here in TX you can do it as a home build to get tags.

 

The approximate location of the axle would be at a position where 60% of the empty weight is ahead of the axle.
You would need to move the axle forward a considerable distance.
If you were to leave it where it is there would likely be too much weight on the towing vehicle unless you are using a one ton truck or larger to tow it.

Also. considering that the weight of this trailer would likely need a working brake system it would make it a very involved project.

 

I have a friend who is an excellent welder. He is concern about the tongue weight. Do we need another axle? Do you have any plans that could help us?
He has 6 axles off a mobile home. My van has an after market utility box with top rack going bumper to bumper.

 

No plans exist for what you want to do.

There are a few books out there on building trailers and a few of them may have trailer plans but when you are trying to do what you are the only way to come up with a good plan is with a good basic understanding of the whole process.

Honestly, there is no way it would be practical to use the truck frame as an undercarriage.
If you wanted a box type trailer it would be less work and likely cheaper and safer to build a trailer from scratch and mount the box on it.
I can't tell you how because I'm not there but it may be possible to save material by integtrating the box structure but this is what a fabricator should be able to do.


Also, the mobile home axles may be illegal to use for trailer construction as it is here.
They are only designed for short hauling mobile homes.

I also have a mobile home axle set for my next trailer but I have found a set of hubs and drums for an 8 bolt wheel that makes them legal.
Our highway inspectors do not accept on other than highway rigs the clamp type wheels that mobiles use.